CNC help on everything

[Paul53]

Hello, new member here, I hope you can help me, I currently cut out 7" vinyl records on a scroll saw, but I feel I need to take this hobby to the next level, I have seen some brilliant cut out designs made from 7" vinyl singles, but there no way that they have been done a scroll saw, so I am guessing that they have been done on a CNC machine. I have no knowledge what so ever on this subject, I need advice on what type of machine i need, software etc, all I know is that my working are would need to be around 200mm x 200mm, I have seen a few chinese machines, was not sure whether to start with one of those, any help and advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[magicniner]

Whatever you do don't buy a Chinese router and expect it to work without you putting in enough time to have earned far more money than you spent in the first place, some are OK, many are plain shonky!

- Nick

[Lee Roberts]

Hi Paul welcome to the forum!

Is buying a machine your only option or would you be comfortable building your own machine?

Typically there is a piece of software that controls the machine (Machine Control Software) and software you would use to design and create parts in (CAD & CAM Software), there are many options for both and both will be a learning curve of their own, there is no getting away from that.

Have a look around both sections and when you're ready with questions don't be afraid to ask them, we have a build log section as well and this is another good place to start and gives a good indication as to what is involved going the self built route.

Nick is right about the Chinese machines, however with some TLC they can and do work but you shouldn't expect too much from those machines, however they do have their place in getting your feet wet and giving you something to learn with.

[Paul53]

Hi Lee, thank you for your reply, I would be happy to build a machine, always up for challenge, i have been reading on the software and how it generates the codes to talk to the machine etc, to be honest I have been reading quite a bit about CNC in general, but is a bit of a minefield, I would guess that building a machine would be better as it will give me the spec I need to the job I want, and with the help of the forum, point me in the right direction of the parts to build it.

[Paul53]

So, over the last few days i have been browsing the internet and looking at YouTube videos, one particular machine has grabbed my attention, it is the Shapeoko 3, this seems to have the spec I am after, could anyone tell me if they are any good or a better machine with the same spec. Many thanks

[routercnc]

I have no direct experience of that machine but they have been around a while and there are plenty in use. The rails are V rollers which is fairly low end and they use a router which is noisy.

However for what you want I’m going to say they will cope fine.

Now for a little more money you can build a much more capable machine yourself but you sound like you want to buy something.